


Lean On Me (I'll be here always)

by curiously_me



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Community: ccbingo, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 22:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiously_me/pseuds/curiously_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint doesn't question how, with his presence alone, Phil Coulson is the safest place he could ever imagine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lean On Me (I'll be here always)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [ccbingo](http://ccbingo.livejournal.com/) square 48: Letting Someone Fall Asleep on Them.
> 
> This story is not beta'ed, so any mistakes are all mine. ;)

When they finally find Clint, he's bloody and broken but still breathing and that's all they need.

Natasha calls the medics in and stays with Clint until they arrive with Coulson hot on their heels.

The archer is far too still for the two agent's liking, though his eyes are open and responsive to changes in light, but when the two S.H.I.E.L.D. medics reach for him to move him onto the stretcher, he's moving faster than anyone expected him to be able to.

Coulson, Natasha, and the two medics are frozen in shock, staring at where Clint has pressed himself against the far wall. He still hasn't actually looked at him, but his eyes are roving around the room like he can't figure out where he is and has just about given up trying to find out.

"Hawkeye." Coulson says, not allowing himself to sound like he's asking a question. In situations like this, he knows that asking Clint anything will only enforce the idea that he's still a captive.

Clint's head turns in the direction of Coulson's voice. He doesn't say anything as he struggles to stand, swaying dangerously but flinching away from the medic as he reaches forward to help.

Natasha moves then, pulling both medics from the room and telling them that she and Coulson will handle it from here. When she turns back to the room, after directing the medics down the hall with one fierce look, Natasha sees Coulson standing next to Hawkeye as the other man leans heavily against his shoulder.

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Coulson asks.

Clint shakes his head where it rests on Coulson's shoulder. He doesn't want to talk about what's been going on for the past two weeks. Doesn't want to remember the way it felt to have his fingers broken repeatedly just for the fun of it.

Really, it might have been easier to absorb if he'd been taken by Hydra or Loki or even Doctor Doom, but he hadn't been. Nope, it had been a far older enemy, some gang that he'd managed to royally piss off when he was still a teenager, still trying to find his place in the world.

He had been in the wrong place at the wrong time after a mission that hadn't ended as well as it could have and they'd grabbed him right off the street on his way to meet his transport home.

They didn't care about information on his missions or getting access to S.H.I.E.L.D., so there was nothing he could give to make them stop. Not that he would have given them anything anyway, but violence just for violence's sake still managed to confound him.

Now, he just wants to have the chance to rest. It's been such a long time since he could relax enough to sleep and it's started to show in the dark circles under his eyes and the haunted look on his face. Clint could fall asleep right here, propped against the wall, leaning into Coulson's comforting warmth.

"Clint, we need to get out of here. You can sleep on the way home, I promise." Coulson is saying.

"Let Natasha and I help you out to the transport, OK?"

Clint forces his eyes open and looks over to where Natasha is still standing by the open door. He likes that she always has his back, even without him having to ask.

When Natasha pulls his arm over her shoulder and wraps her own around his waist, Clint isn't able to hold back the flinch as she touches him. He doesn't want to be afraid of his friends. He wants to be OK and to put this whole thing behind him.

Clint's still not all there when they load him onto Tony's plane and doesn't really notice as the rest of the Avengers follow them inside and take seats in the cabin. Normally, Thor and Tony will fly home, occasionally with passengers hanging from their arms. This time, though, the entire team needs to see for themselves that Clint's going to be OK and they aren't leaving until that point has been driven home for each and every one of them.

"Tony, did you make that call?" Clint hears Steve ask and wonders what that's all about.

"Yeah, the best orthopedists I could fund will be ready for us when we land. He'll be OK, it'll just take some time for him to heal." Tony says.

Oh, they're talking about him, about his hands. He doesn't want to think about his hands, hasn't been able to feel anything but pain from them for so many days now he's afraid to think of what's going to happen with them. He is terrified that he'll lose the one thing that makes him valuable to the team.

"Stop worrying, Clint. You're going to be fine, I promise you that. Rest for now, we'll talk more when you wake up." Coulson says into his ear.

Clint turns his body into Coulson's, trying to block everything he doesn't want to think about out, and just breathes. He's never thought about why he's drawn to Coulson or why he sometimes just needs to be in the other man's presence and has certainly never considered why the other man allows him the liberties he does.

But he is grateful for it just the same as Coulson wraps an arm around his shoulder and lets him curl in to his warmth.

The trip home is a short one, but Clint falls asleep anyways, soothed by the sounds of his teammates around him, ready to fight for him at a moments notice, and the feel of Coulson's heat against the side of his face and side, safer than anything Clint has ever known before.


End file.
